The Summer Maple 1/?
by Keii
Summary: The first part of a love story, staring Kenji (Tracey) and a girl named Momiji, it's a little sappy and slow, lots of scene description and such, it's a sweet little story so far, please R


> The ground was hard under his feet. He had been walking for quite some time, without any villages in site. His pack tugged at his already tired shoulders, carrying a few pokeballs, food, and various art supplies. Tracey coughed as the wind threw sandy dust from the path into the air. He covered himself with a jacket he had gotten a short time ago for attending a convention of artists whose work centered on wild pokemon, it sported a pencil overlapping a pokeball on the left breast and a rose vine climbing up the lower-right sleeve. Other than that, the jacket was a dark, forest green, with white stripes running up each sleeve. After the wind died down, he brushed himself off, and slid his hair off of his temple. Sighing, and gripping the straps to his pack, he began to walk again.
> 
> 'This burgers a little over done... but I guess its better than bread and water.' Tracey thought, as he stared onto the stone streets. He had been eating bread and cheese he'd packed with him and water. He finished his lunch with a small sip of his soda, and glared into the empty seat across from him for a second. He payed his tab and got up, pulling his pack onto his shoulders, and walked off into the streets. It was a small town, save a tiny pokecenter and an even smaller pokemart, there weren't many shops of any kind. Eventually the stone street faded into gravel, then another dusty path, like the one he had been on. Tracey spotted a small pond a bit off the path, and headed for it. The dry grass crunched under him as he sat a little ways from the pond, letting loose his Marril, Venonat, and Scyther for a little while. Marril played by the waterside a little, before diving in the pond, Venonat and Scyther wandered around the waterside a bit, occasionally stopping for a drink, or to have a breif conversation. Tracey smiled and took out his sketch pad, he drew a few sketches of Marril, swimming, one or two of venonat and scythers foreign conversations, but paused shortly there after, sitting and enjoying the quiet, and the nice summer scene, slipping into the half slumber of a summer day.
> 
> The soft crunch of grass awoke Tracey from his trance, he looked to his side to notice someone walking toward the lake, a girl, her amber hair flowing to her side in the wind. It was quite long, almost down to her waist, and with two long bangs in the front, hanging to her shoulders. Her soft green eyes sparkled with the sun reflecting off the water, it was obvious she hadn't noticed him, she walked on as if he didn't exist. She stopped by the waterside, drawing some into a bucket, she stopped a moment to smile and pet the passing Marril, scratching a bit behind its ear. The marril said a small thanks and dived back underwater. The girl stood up, now with a full bucket, and watched Venonat and Scyther, who were now on the opposite side of the pond, speaking in their foreign conversation. She turned around, spotting Tracey, she smiled and started toward him. Tracey eeped to himself, trying to figure out what to do...He drooped his head to his sketchbook, pretending he hadn't seen her. As he sketched small, nervous pictures of Marril, he heard the crunch of the grass grow closer, and then stop..."Hi", it was crystal clear, like a bell, a beautiful voice, Tracey thought...He lifted his head, trying not to blush, and returned a brief, nervous "Hi".
> 
> She leaned forward a bit, admiring his drawing "Wow, you're pretty good" she said, with her clear tone and a kind smile. Tracey blushed through a rushed "Thank you". She smiled at him, and inquired "Is that your Marril swimming over there?" he tried to speak but decided to save himself any embarrasment and nod. "It's reeeally cute, you must be proud" she returned, smiling. He nodded again, blushing brightly... she didn't seem to notice his red face. "Thats a really interesting jacket, where'd you get it?" she smiled again, speaking with her beautiful, bell tone. Tracey's face faded to it's natural color a bit, "I got it at a convention,..." he proceeded to explain what he did, the convention, and all the interesting details. She smiled the entire time, thouroughly interested.
> 
> He finished talking about it. She proceeded to look at her watch, and stood up a bit startled. "Oh no, dad's gonna be so mad at me, look at the time... It was nice meeting you, I work at the family inn, here..." she handed him a small card with an address on it "It'll be dark in a little while, if you need somewhere to sleep and you've got a little money you can stay at our inn..." Tracey nodded. She straightened out her outfit, blue jeans, a cream tanktop and a brown jacket, and ran off onto the road, waving. Tracey returned waves until she was out of view, and sat in thought for a second. He started sketching, picture, after picture... after picture of the girl, he used about five sheets of paper before he finally looked up and saw the sun setting, swirling into the blues and oranges of the horizon. He collected all his possesions and put them in his pack, and walked down to the waterside. He collected Marril, Scyther, and Venonat in their respective pokeballs and walked back up to the dirt path. He stood there a little while in thought... He could sleep using a sleeping bag... but he had been doing that for weeks now, and he had some money...
> 
> The inn was as small as the rest of the buildings in the town, apparently only two rooms, not counting anywhere the family slept. Tracey walked a few steps before being greeted heartily by the innkeeper, a rather portly man, with a firm handshake. After a brief conversation, Tracey handed over a little money, and walked toward the lobby, a small, living room. When he rounded the corner into the room, he saw the girl again, she was sitting a little way from the fireplace, playing with an eevee, probably the family pet. Tracey sat down and put his pack on the floor, feeling the warmth of the fireplace from across the room. She giggled along with the eevee as she tickled it and scratched behind it's ear. She looked up and smiled warmly at Tracey "Hi again". He smiled nervously and replied, "Hi". She got up and sat across from Tracey, holding the eevee in her lap (Who was now watching Tracey with a kind of innocent curiousity). She sat in thought for a second and piped up clearly and happily "Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot all about that, my name's Momiji...It means mapel" she outstretched a hand, Tracey piped up nervously "I'm Kenji, but, everyone calls me Tracey". He grasped her hand...Even that filled him with an odd warmth, they both smiled and nodded.


End file.
